As the 50-year-old actress-director offered a rare moment of public introspection into her private life, inducing tears from audience members such as Anne Hathaway, the Twitterverse hung on her every word, documenting the moment in breathless 140-character bursts.

"I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I've never been able to air in public that I'm a little nervous about -- but maybe not as nervous as my publicist," Foster said. "So I'm just going to put it out there, loud and proud, right? I'm going to need your support on this. I am, uh -- "

"I'm single," Foster confessed, drawing laughs.

Then, without directly stating "I'm gay," she went on: "I already did my coming out a thousand years ago, in the Stone Age. Those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to friends and family and co-workers then gradually to everyone that knew her, everyone she actually met. But now apparently I'm told that every celebrity is to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show."

And Richard Dreyfuss, apparently watching NBC's telecast from home, wrote: "Jodie Foster is one of the most amazing actresses of all time. More than that she’s one of the most amazing people."

Drawing more than 3,000 retweets, actress Kate Bosworthtweeted this Foster quote: "Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from."

"Wait, so Jodie Foster is definitely not Honey Boo Boo? Coulda fooled me," cracked actress-singer Jennette McCurdy on a lighter note,referring to the honoree's "I am not Honey Boo Boo Child" joke, while Questlove of The Roots teased: "... so Jodie Foster is single eh?"

Perez Hilton also weighed in, writing: "Surprised that a lot of my gays on Facebook are roasting Jodie Foster for her #GoldenGlobes speech! ... I applaud her!!!"

But not everyone was tweeting pro-Foster sentiment. Here's a sampling of posts from screenwriter-provocateur Bret Easton Ellis, in typical fighting form:

-- "What is everybody talking about? Didn't I just hear Jodie Foster fake a coming out speech? I've never heard the word PRIVACY said so loudly."

-- "Jodie Foster was drunk."

-- "The Hollywood hypocrisy is complete: Jodie Foster accepts her Lifetime Achievement award at The GG's and then demands PUBLIC PRIVACY..."

-- "Jodie Foster says 'I want all of the good stuff and none of the bad stuff!' What is she? A three year-old lesbian?"

After the ceremony, THR's Scott Feinberg snapped this picture of Foster dancing with her son at a Globes party, totally oblivious (or indifferent) to the fact that her confessional speech was one of this year's most-talked-about, most-tweeted-about, most-unexpected surprises.